Livestreaming local meetings brings new accessibility

A resident, back, surprises the Lewisville Town Board members during a July meeting that was streamed online. (Screenshot from livestream)

Twenty minutes into the live video of the July 16 town council meeting in Lewisville, population 337, the four council members are discussing what to do about two neighboring mobile homes where backyard trash is piling up and attracting rats. One of the homeowners, an older woman, also has four disabled cars parked in the driveway, two of which have expired plates, and engine parts blocking the path of meter readers.

After five minutes of discussion, including whether to mail the residents certified legal notices “to scare them a little bit,” council members decide on a kinder approach instead — email warnings with a number to call town council for assistance — even though some members say the elderly woman has refused help in the past.

The council moves on to other business when, 30 minutes later, an older woman photobombs the live recording by entering a back door. She’s not happy with what she saw at home on the town’s YouTube channel.

“Number one, I have never refused help,” the woman tells the council members as they turn around in their chairs to face their accuser. “I don’t have anybody’s phone number. I don’t know where anybody lives. I leave the house around 9:30, 10 o’clock in the morning. I don’t get home till midnight, one, two, three o’clock in the morning. Okay, like you said, I’m almost 67. You’re right, I’m old. I’ve got sciatic problems, I’ve got hip problems, I’ve got knee problems … ”

A calmer discussion eventually unfolded and the council agreed to a public call for volunteers to help the woman clean up her property.

Welcome to Indiana’s new livestreaming requirement for local government meetings.

With nearly all 567 localities, 88 counties and 354 school districts now in compliance with a law that took effect July 1, keeping tabs on what your local officeholders are up to is as easy as sitting in front of your computer or TV screen.

“So now people are able to log on and see what their tax dollars are going for, what projects are important to their community and how to get involved if they see something that’s really important to them,” said State Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, the chief sponsor of the bill.

Seven other states have requirements for recording and archiving public meetings but, so far, only Indiana requires live access for nearly all meetings of local public officials.

Behind the benefits

Transparency and greater government accountability aren’t the only benefits of livestreamed meetings. The New York Coalition for Open Government, an upstate grassroots organization pushing their own state to adopt livestreaming requirements, has posted a list of 29, including better access for the elderly, disabled, immunocompromised, military service members abroad, “snowbirds” with more than one home, and people working long hours and evenings like the aggrieved woman in Lewisville.

Smaltz said he was inspired several years ago to initiate the proposal after talking to constituents in his district just north of Fort Wayne.

“What I learned from them was with the busy lifestyle we all seem to be living today — with kids’ activities and work, other volunteer things — that it’s really hard to be involved (in local government) and to know what’s going on,” he said. Social media access, he decided, would certainly help.

Not all areas of Indiana, however, have access to livestreaming. While the state received $868 million from former President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan a year ago to expand broadband into underserved areas, 140,000 Hoosier residents — most of them in rural communities — are still waiting for service as the program is rolled out over the next four years, according to the Indiana Broadband Office. For those areas, local governments are required to record their meetings and archive them for the public.

Local officials say the transition to livestreaming has posed a few technical challenges but, overall, it has been an inexpensive means to increase public engagement.

And in cities and towns where the software permits audience interaction, it has increased participation as well — some of it unwanted.

In Greenwood, a suspected local gadfly hacked into the city’s YouTube channel and posted porn videos to liven up several town hall meetings.

“So now we’ve got an IT person sitting in the control room monitoring that and they’re able to shut them off real quick,” said Greenwood Mayor Mike Myers.

Myers said the city’s Zoom meetings on YouTube have increased citizen involvement, especially on “hot topics.” Remote audience members can click an icon to “raise their hand” during meetings to ask a question or post a comment.

Consultants and experts outside the city can also participate in meetings while saving on their transportation time and costs, Myers said.

“If they want to testify about or talk about an item on the agenda that they’re a part of. This way they don’t have to fly all the way to Indiana,” he said, and added jokingly, “even if they’re on the North Side (of Indianapolis). We all know how easy it is to get from the North Side to the South Side.”

Rigging up recording equipment and generating the needed numbers of online subscribers have been challenges for smaller localities, said Becca McCuaig, legal counsel for Accelerate Indiana Municipalities. “YouTube requires you to have a certain number of subscribers in order for it to be able to go live. So (town) clerk-treasurers have helped each other get enough subscribers to make sure they’re meeting those requirements.”

Smaltz says livestreaming will help keep local governments accountable and citizens connected at a time when many rural areas are losing their local news coverage.

Indiana has nine counties without a local news source and 42 others with only one, according to Local News Initiative, a database kept by Northwestern University. Due to recent state and federal funding cuts, several of Indiana’s 17 public radio stations are in peril as well. The Indiana NPR network recently eliminated its statewide reporting team because of the $3.7 million in cuts.

Besides serving year-round residents, Smaltz said, “it really takes away the geographic barrier of someone who’s interested in (a locality) because maybe they have two homes. They have one home in Indianapolis and one home in southern Indiana, or their family is from southern Indiana. This is going to let them keep that community connection.”

David Bottorff, executive director of the Association of Indiana Counties, says he doesn’t know of any counties that are tracking increases in attendance or viewership since the new law took effect. But he does know one thing – some county officials are now suiting up for meetings. “I’ve had one member say, ‘Yeah, I dress a little bit nicer now that I know it’s going to be broadcast.’”

The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.